Indonesian village Kampung Pelangi morphs into 'Rainbow village'

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 6 years ago

Indonesian village Kampung Pelangi morphs into 'Rainbow village'

By Natalie Paris
Updated
The Indonesian village of Kampung Pelangi has had a facelift.

The Indonesian village of Kampung Pelangi has had a facelift.Credit: Arief Rakhman/Instagram

Until a month ago, this ramshackle Indonesian village was not the sort of place to attract tourists. That was before its inhabitants were given an array of paint pots and told to get to work.

Now the dazzling striped walls of their streets and houses are being appreciated on Instagram, with images of them being shared by social media users all over the world, under the hashtag #kampungpelangi.

A local headmaster, called Slamet Widodo, reportedly made a request for money to transform Kampung Pelangi, which is located in Semarang, in Central Java, after being inspired by the painting of similar villages elsewhere in Indonesia.

The village ended up being given 300 million rupiahs to get their paintbrushes out, and nearly every building - from rooftop to gutter - was drenched in a multitude of colours.

Motifs include psychedelic hearts, human-sized angel wings, dinosaurs and polka dots.

Advertisement

Vogue magazine described the scenes "as like the mystic swirl of a Mara Hoffman print realised in physical form."

Widodo hoped that his village could change after seeing the transformation of other riverside villages, like Code in Jogja and Jodipan in Malang.

The Telegraph, London

Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter

Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.

Most viewed on Traveller

Loading